Fantastic Four, Plus One
by Mary Lou Royal
Summary: Someone else was on that space station and got exposed to the storm, but why don't we ever hear about them? How can her powers help root out a traitor in the Fantastic 4's midst? Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**BIG NOTE: Some of you may have noticed the title change; the old one had a major spoiler, due to the fact that my story started heading in one direction, then just sorta switched on me. I apologize to all the people who had this story spoiled for them.**

**Note: Although I wouldn't mind owning Reed, I sadly do not. Nor do I own any of the other characters/settings. Only the character of Anna Macedon and the plot line are my own.**

**P.S. Please review, I am new and naïve and am in desperate need of advice…but this is my first fic; be nice.**

Chapter I

Present Day

Reed squinted through his magnifier, using tweezers to manipulate the minute wiring in his new contraption. The laboratory around him, and the entire apartment, for that matter, was dark and silent. All of his fellow team members were sound asleep, while once again, sleep itself had deserted him.

Extending his arm to an inhuman length, he pulled his tool kit over to him. But as he powered up the soldering iron to close up the back panel of his invention, he wondered if this whole thing was necessary. This pause was only momentary, however; he decided that finishing the job was in the best interest of the entire group, and the psychic herself. Upon completing the task, he lifted the delicate silver ringlet, which was of a size and shape to rest comfortably on one's head, out of the work area.

Seeming to be in a reflective mood, his mind wandered back to how the fifth member of their group had come to join them in the first place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Sorry the first chapter was so short, but that's pretty much the way I write. This chapter is where the story melds a little bit with the movie, and I admittedly took some dramatic license with it. I hate melding with the movie since it's basically stuff you guys have already heard before, and I most likely won't do it so much in later chapters.**

**P.S. Please review…I'm naïve in this, and I need to know if this story is worth continuing!**

Chapter II 

6 Months Earlier

"Ok Ben, you're doing good," Reed said calmly into the microphone, guiding his friend on his space walk.

He sighed. Although conducting an experiment of this magnitude had been his dream for many years, he resented the fact that he had had to sell-out to his long-time rival, Dr. von Doom, in order to receive the necessary funding. He had also discovered that space station surroundings weren't quite to his liking; too dark, too bland. The only thing to brighten up the small laboratory was the smile of his colleague, Anna Macedon.

"How are things looking out there?" she asked him quietly, reluctant to disturb his quiet, pensive mood. She always liked those moments; he would stand there at a window, staring as if at something nonexistent, but one could tell that something brilliant or profound was happening behind those eyes.

Shaking himself slightly to return to the present, he focused his brown eyes on hers. "Very well, actually; that storm we were monitoring isn't due to hit us for another 8 hours, so there's plenty of time for Ben to finish up the maintenance."

"That's good," she commented. Looking out the window, she said, "Wow, it's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Reed agreed, even though he was more of a cityscape sort of person.

A brief silence followed, and both scientists found the quiet, companionable moment quite enjoyable, in spite of themselves.

However, little alarm bells started going off in Anna's head. She was enjoying this _too _much. It was time to break it off, and fast. "Umm…we've both been too absorbed in our work here in the lab…no one has been checking on the ship's vitals in the reinforced cockpit…I'd better…"

Reed nodded, excusing her from limping on with her fairly pathetic excuse. Anna backed away and made her way through the tangle of lab equipment to the reinforced section of the space station, where all of the controls and readouts were located.

That's when the actual alarms started. A readout station came up from the floor at Reed's feet, displaying a countdown: **30 seconds**.

His mouth dropped open, and his jaw worked soundlessly. His calculations had been off; this mother of all solar storms was going to be here _much_ sooner than he thought, and there was no time to get the shields charged and raised.

"Oh crap," he muttered.

A much more accurate assessment of the situation he could not have made.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

4 Weeks After That

The air smelled and tasted of coming rain. Every minute or so, a sound so low it seemed to be almost on the edge of comprehension traveled through the air, warning all that could hear of the coming storm.

Despite the rapidly worsening weather, Reed Richards stood in the middle of the sidewalk, hands plunged deep into his coat pockets, staring up at the rather imposing apartment building of his former lab assistant.

It had been four weeks now, roughly a month, since the trip into space that had changed all of their lives. Despite the upheaval, his life had been going fairly well. Dr. von Doom had been defeated and shipped back to Latveria, the long-time feud between Ben and Johnny had cooled, and Reed himself was engaged to the love of his life, Susan Storm. He seemed to warm against the cool air at the very thought of her.

But in the suddenly and dramatically increased pace of life, the publicity, the funds, the relationships, he now realized that he had neglected his friend entirely. Unlike the other five who were affected by the storm aboard the space station, Anna had been the only one to escape unscathed. While Sue, Johnny, Ben, Victor, and himself had been undergoing all of these changes, Anna had sailed through all of the quarantine medical tests without displaying a single abnormality. The only theory that Reed could come up with was that Anna had ridden out the storm in a more heavily reinforced section of the space station, therefore minimizing her exposure to the storm, if not eliminating her radiation exposure entirely.

Bringing himself back to the present, he finally pushed through the golden double doors of the older New York City building.

"Well, hello there, Dr. Richards, or should I say 'Mr. Fantastic'."

"Hello, Donny, good to see you again," Reed said in greeting to the aged doorman.

"Here to see Anna?" Donny inquired, his gravelly voice reminding Reed of Ben's.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

Donny's demeanor turned suddenly grave. "Good luck to you, then."

Reed gave him one of his trademark questioning looks.

Leaning forward conspiratorially, Donny whispered, "Now, I'm not one to spread gossip…." At this, Reed suppressed a smirk. "…but I've been talkin' to some of the other guys who work at this place. You see, I've been askin' around, seein' as how I haven't seen her come down from her penthouse up there for about four weeks now. They say she's cancelled her telephone, Internet, and cable service; just about everything except her electricity and natural gas. She has her groceries delivered now, but won't allow the delivery boy to go up there; she makes him put the groceries on the elevator and send them up on their own." At Reed's skeptical look, Donny protested, "It's true! I've seen it with my own two eyes. But do you know what's _really _goofy?" At this, Donny leaned in even closer, causing Reed to recoil from the old man's grisly face. "The people who occupied the two floors below her…they suddenly moved out two weeks ago, even before there lease was up. They say that she bribed them." Donny fixed his eyes on Reed's face, eagerly trying to detect any kind of reaction to this sensational news.

"Yes…um…that's very interesting. Thank you, Donny." With that, Reed skirted the old man and went to the wall containing the intercoms to call the building's various occupants.

As he reached for the one labeled "Penthouse," Donny called out, "Won't do you no good; she's disabled it on her end."

Giving Donny a quizzical look, Reed went to the elevator and punched in the penthouse's security code, and was surprised to see that it hadn't been changed. "Good luck to ya," Donny said solemnly as the doors closed between them.

Reed had always had the feeling ever since Anna had chosen that building a little over three years ago, that Donny was a little bit off-center. But he had never thought that Donny was crazy enough to fabricate that much evidence, meaning that at least some of it was probably true. And if Anna really was hermit-izing herself, there had to be a reason. Not to jump to conclusions, Reed told himself, but _that _could mean that she had not escaped the storm as unscathed as he had thought.

While he was still lost in his thoughts, the elevator doors opened into Anna's apartment. But the greeting he received was not that of a dear friend who missed him horribly.

"Get out of here, and leave me in peace!" a voice screamed as one of Anna's antique vases flew past his ear and shattered on the wall behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

**The action will pick up soon, I promise. **

**Please review, I could always use suggestions.**

Chapter 4

Present Day

"It's excruciating being a psychic in a city of eight million souls, all living and dying, celebrating and mourning, being born and passing away, all at the very same moment."

Those fairly simple words had explained everything. Anna had spoke them as she was falling under the sedatives that Reed had given her in order to make the trip back to the Baxter Building. Thanks to a double dose of sleeping pills and Reed's ability to make quick excuses, they had managed to make it back with only a few prolonged glances their way. Even coming from her half-drugged state, the words had stayed with him all through their semi-successful work at trying to get her powers under control and on to the present day.

"Whatcha got there?" a voice asked from behind him in the lab.

Reed nearly jumped out of his skin, which for him was not totally infeasible. He whirled around to be greeted by the tired face of Anna Macedon.

"You nearly killed me," he commented breathlessly.

"I'm not going to be the one killing you if you keep pulling all-nighters like this, you'll die of exhaustion," she chided gently. "Besides, shouldn't you be with your fiancée?"

"Feeling slightly hypocritical tonight, are we?" he asked with a small smile.

"Hey, I _was _sleeping," she pointed out, motioning to her bright green pajamas, "but _someone _out here was thinking so furiously that it kept waking me up."

Reed suppressed a gulp, wondering what else she may have gleaned from his thoughts. But this comment also served to bring him back to the task at hand.

"So, whatcha got there?" Anna persisted.

"Why don't you tell me?" he asked snidely.

"No need for attitude," she scolded, "you know I don't read minds on purpose."

With a sigh, he hyper-extended his arm around behind his back and brought out the device he had been working on. "It's for you," he said quietly.

"Well…what is it? I mean, it looks like a headband, but…"

"Oh, it is."

A pause, then, "Go on…"

Taking a deep breath, he reluctantly decided to rush into it headlong and get it all over with. "It's meant to suppress brain waves, more specifically yours. It will make you…mono-minded…not psychic."

An undecided look passed over her face. "I mean, that's a good thing, I guess…but I thought I had my powers under control enough by now, I wouldn't really need this."

"It's for the group. Your powers make them…uneasy."

She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut in before she could say anything. "Anyway, wouldn't you like to not hear the voices anymore?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You make it sound as if I'm crazy."

"No, I didn't mean that, it's just…"

Now it was her turn to interrupt. "Besides, I don't need to be a psychic in order to tell that you aren't telling me everything right now."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, and the two just stood there, almost staring each other down. Folding, he finally explained, "It is designed to suppress higher brain functions, and your psychic ones may not be the only ones affected."

"Are you saying that it's going to make me an idiot, too?"

"No! It may just knock down some things like advanced algebra and particle physics."

"I can't do that, Reed!" she hissed. "I'm not strong or athletic, or even particularly attractive; my brain is all I've got! And you know how much academics and science mean to me! How many years have we worked together? Three, almost four?"

"Calm down," he whispered, stepping forward and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Just wear this thing. For the others, for us, for the Fantastic Four…" he lowered his head to look into her eyes. "…for me."

She stared into his eyes, long and hard. Snatching it out of his hands and pulling away, she said, "For you."

As she turned back and headed towards her room, it really hit him how much trust Anna had in him. He only hoped he hadn't just done something to betray it.


	5. Chapter 5

**The characters (except Anna), the setting, etc. etc., aren't mine etc. etc. Please don't sue the lowly writer.**

**Johnny's portrayal in this chapter inspired in part by the antics of my older sister.**

"Good morning, all!" Johnny called out cheerily as he strode into the kitchen where Reed, Sue, and Ben were having breakfast. Naturally, the "Human Torch" was shirtless.

Ben rolled his eyes.

"Johnny, we all know you're beautiful, now can you _please_ put on a shirt?" Sue implored.

"No shirt can contain me!" he bellowed in a low, macho voice, but he still listened to his older sister and pulled on a white T-shirt.

"Yeah, you're one to talk," Ben muttered.

Johnny smirked and crossed to the counter to make himself a cup of coffee.

Reed leaned closer to his fiancée flirtatiously and murmured, "Now maybe _I _should make an entrance like that one of these days."

"Don't even think about it," she growled.

Looking mildly hurt and smiling sheepishly, he went back to his fruit salad while Ben and Johnny exchanged covert and smug glances.

This friendly banter amongst the tightly-knit group was quickly quelled, however, by yet another entrance.

Anna walked slowly in, the new headband on her head and the fingers of her right hand fluttering at her temple. The mood in the room changed as if dumped into a pail of ice water. All knew what the new contraption was; even though he was the leader, Reed would not have taken such an action without first seeking the consent of the rest of the Fantastic Four.

She suddenly raised her gaze from the floor and looked at each of them in turn. "Um…good morning."

Everyone with the exception of Reed avoided her eyes. "Good morning, Anna!" he said in greeting, mustering up as much cheer as he could. The rest of the group quietly echoed his niceties.

Twitching her mouth in Reed's direction in what he assumed was an attempt at a smile, she crossed slowly to the chair left empty by Johnny.

The silence was stifling. Reed put on the largest and warmest smile that he could manage, then asked, "I trust you slept well?"

"As well as itwas possible to, yes," she answered, fixing him with her intense and unwavering stare.

Sue became much more intent on her scrambled eggs.

The silence stretched on, and Reed felt like he was tumbling into it as inevitably and crushingly as if it were a black hole. Not that he'd know, since, as he pointed out to himself, science had not yet even proven their existence beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Doesn't that doodad bother you any?" Ben questioned, looking up from his sausage and bacon. Reed glared at him, and he shrugged.

"Not really Ben, no," she answered slowly, looking back and forth between them, "but it does take some getting used to."

Johnny longed to break the tension, and bring back the cheerful and sarcastic sparring partner and psychic friend that he knew. "Erm….Anna, where did you put the sugar? I'm not really in the mood for black coffee this morning."

She opened her mouth to respond, but answer seemed to become lodged in her throat. "I…don't remember…" she said quietly.

Reed lowered his eyes, sparing her the embarrassment of suffering their scrutiny. The others followed his lead.

Silence prevailed.

Sue took shifting the focus from Anna into her own hands. "I think it wouldn't hurt all of us to find out what's going on in the rest of the world." She left the table in search of the remote.

Anna buried her face in her hands, while Reed looked on. He struggled to fight back the remorse building up within.

"…while yesterday afternoon, the elderly man in the park that many of us know for his odd chess habits of hurling metal chess pieces at passersby was apprehended yesterday after he reportedly assaulted a bald man in a wheelchair. He was taken to the local precinct while, police say, shouting things such as 'I told you that you could never trust them, Charles,' and 'See what they've done to us now?'" The female reporter smiled sympathetically then turned to her male colleague. "Poor, poor man, but at least he is now in a position to receive help, right, Don?"

Obviously, Sue had managed to dig the television remote out from Johnny's hiding place between the cushions of the couch.

"That's right, Diana. In other news, police are currently in the middle of a hold-up with the robbers of Lowe's Jewelry on Fifth Avenue."

The Fantastic Four looked at the television.

Diana took over. "And you can get the full story, right after these messages."

"Dammit! What kind of crappy station is this?" Sue muttered as she fumbled the remote trying to find a new station.

More glances were exchanged.

Finally, "That's right, Bob. Local police find themselves out-manned and out-gunned in this shootout."

The screen changed from the pretty blonde to a helicopter shot of an apparent standoff.

The male anchor took over. "Due to the understandable reluctance to avoid loss of life, an end to this shootout is not in sight."

"Looks like a job for…the Human Torch!" Johnny announced as he strode out of the kitchen.

"Don't you mean the Fantastic Four?" Sue demanded as he passed.

"Yeah, them too."

"I'm guessing it's time for you guys to get into your bad 80's rock band suits again," Ben grumbled. "I guess _I'd_ better find something to do to get ready.' He heavily lifted himself out of his seat and left the table.

Reed looked at the only other person left at the table. "I think you'd better stay here," he said gently.

She looked up at him slowly with a lethargic look in her eye that disquieted him. "In this apartment resides the Fantastic Four, plus one," she told him with a prophetic air, "and once again, wisely or no, the plus one stays behind."


End file.
